


The Revenge of Bulma Briefs

by Wugbug



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Bulma is a badass, Bulma vs Goku, F/M, Gen, Lots of technobabble, Mind Control, Post-Dragon Ball Super, Some family and friendship feels, and can be scary, treated seriously but not too dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-02-09 12:06:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18637795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wugbug/pseuds/Wugbug
Summary: Bulma Briefs is a technological genius. Her inventions are peerless, she's the wealthiest woman on the planet, and she has close relationships to the most powerful fighters in the universe. But what happens when she suddenly decides to use her skills and knowledge towards different goals? What happens when she decides that those powerful fighters are her enemies rather than her friends? What happens when Bulma is the villain?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came about because how cool would it be too have Bulma actually use all of her technology against Goku et al and be a genuinely formidable villain? I am not one for edgy alternative character interpretation, so there will be none of that here, though.  
> This first chapter is more of a prologue, setting up the rest of the plot. I'm notoriously bad at continuing stories, so we will see where this goes.  
> And if you think Bulma HASN'T already used the Dragon Balls for vain and petty reasons, I don't know what to tell you because she totally would.

Bulma stepped out of her plane on to the rocky cliffside. The radar said the dragon ball was in the mountain and she had seen a cave opening during her flyby. She shielded her eyes against the sun as she scanned the area. The island was beautiful, subtropical and covered in lush jungle plants, spilling over the rocks in a waterfall of green. Birds and insects chattered, and a stream trickled nearby. 

“I can't believe I let you talk me into this.” Krillin said with a sigh as he climbed out of the plane and stood next to her. 

“You need this as much as I do, Mr. Gray Hair.” Bulma laughed as she patted his bald head. He glowered, regretting ever telling her that one of his motivations for shaving his head again was finding an increased number of gray hairs. 

“It just feels like a lot of trouble to go through.” Krillin watched Bulma wack at the brambles that covered the cliffside. 

“You can do whatever you want, but I'm wishing away these stretch marks, just like I did after Trunks. Oh, there it is!” She pointed to the mouth of a small cave. 

Krillin sighed. He was definitely going to make the wish to be physically 5 years younger. Being surrounded by ridiculously strong, seemingly ageless beings, one of which was his wife, was tough. It made every small sign of aging feel like an indicator of his uselessness. He shook his head as he thought about the way his back had started to ache in the morning.  

Still, he wasn’t wild about the idea of climbing around in the jungle looking for Dragon Balls. “Why didn't you have Vegeta come with you. You know, your husband. ” Krillin looked at the cave entrance apprehensively. He was getting too old for this. Which, he supposed, was the point. 

“It's his week to train so he’s off planet with Whis.” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, he thinks the idea is dumb. He’s all ‘You're beautiful, so why bother?’” She pitched her voice low and gravelly to imitate her husband, even scrunching her face up in an exaggerated glare to properly get into the persona. “I have to tell him that that isn't the point, but he still thinks it's useless and refuses to actively support it.” She sighed. 

“I can't imagine Vegeta telling you you're beautiful, but I'll take your word for it.” 

“Hey, let's just say I know a lot more sides to him than you do.” She winked. 

Krillin wisely dropped the subject. He had wondered about Vegeta and Bulma's relationship over the years but only in passing. He didn't want to actually  _ know _ .

“I think it's down here.” the cave was small enough that she had to hunch over and walls had some sort of slime on them. Bulma scrunched up her nose in disgust but she moved forward. She loved this sort of stuff. It made her feel like a teenager again, adventuring with Goku, before he got so . . .

“You sure it's safe in there?” Krillin asked, hesitantly. 

“Nope. Now hurry up.” She moved forward in to the cave, lighting the way ahead with a flashlight shining from her hip. 

Krillin considered just staying back and waiting for her to bring the ball out. She could probably handle herself fine. 

Probably. 

He imagined a scenario where he had to explain to Vegeta that his wife had gotten injured while he relaxed in the sunshine and decided it was best to follow her. 

The cave was getting narrower and inclining downwards, making it so Bulma had to crouch more. Just as she was trying to decide if it was time to move to a crawl, her heart lurched as she stepped on a slippery patch and felt herself slide toward. 

She let out a yell as she slid, unable to stop herself.

Krillin grabbed for the back of her jacket but his fingers grasped air. Powering up just enough for flight, he dove after her. The tunnel sloped sharply down, opening into a large cavern, and they both shrieked. He panicked and sped up, but she was already crashing to the ground. 

Or rather, she should have been. 

She hovered a foot or so above the ground, a strange force around her. She sighed heavily and shook out her limbs.

“Thank god that worked. I’ve tested it extensively but this is the first use outside of the lab.” She bounced on her feet, still floating, before twisting something on her bracelet and slowly lowering to the ground. 

“What was that?” Krillin asked, landing next to her. 

“My anti-gravity force field. I came up with the idea years ago, when I was working on the gravity chamber a lot. Vegeta wanted high gravity, of course, but the principal was the same for low gravity. I sold a few low gravity chambers to the government for astronaut training, you know? It ended up on the backburner, so it took a while to get it to work like this, without a chamber and on a personal level. But I made this a couple years ago. It’s controlled from my bracelet.” She held out her wrist and pointed to her diamond tennis bracelet. It looked like a normal piece of expensive jewelry, the sort that 18 always wanted in theory, but never actually wore or expressed any actual desire for outside of as a status symbol. 

But she pressed on one of the diamonds nearest to the clasp and there was a click and it glowed. Bulma rose up from the floor and she grinned proudly before pressing it again and lowering back down. 

“Damn, Bulma, you really are a genius.” He didn’t even begin to pretend to understand the technological advances that went into the little device on her wrist. 

She laughed. “I know.” And with that she strode around the corner and out of his sight. 

He chuckled. They were lucky Bulma was a good person. He would hate to see what she could do with that brain of hers if she wanted to do evil. 

“Krillin! Come look at this!” Bulma’s voice echoed around the cavern, 

Dutifully, he followed the sound of her voice. The cavern opened into a small room and Krillin blinked against the assault to his eyes. The whole room sparkled. The rocks were barely visible under the piles of jewels and crystals and baubles of various sorts. It was almost beautiful, but something made him feel unsettled. It looked too haphazard, and there was a strange feeling coming from these piles. 

“Someone’s a collector, apparently. Hopefully they won’t miss this.” She held up the dragon ball triumphantly. 

“Nice! Now we can get out of here!” 

Bulma tossed the dragon ball in her bag and turned her attention to the other baubles. “Wait a minute. I want to see what else is here.”

“Bulma, you can afford jewels the size of my head if you want to. I don’t want to steal from who's ever stuff this is.” He couldn’t help but keep looking over his shoulder, sure that who ever had collected this hoard would be showing up soon. 

“I’m not going to steal! I’m just curious!” She picked up a broken piece of a stained glass window and admired the way the light from her flashlight shown through it. She put it down and picked up a small black stone, possibly a piece of obsidian. 

Krillin rolled his eyes an nudged a piece of costume jewelry with his foot. Unfortunately, it had apparently been a load bearing oversized paste necklace, because dislodging it caused the pile to come tumbling down, onto him. He tried to catch the pieces of blown glass and heavy crystals before they hit the ground, but there was only so much he could do. They crashed to the ground in a loud clatter and he cringed as the sound reverberated through the larger cavern. 

“Oops.” He laughed nervously and looked over at Bulma, expecting him to scold him. She said nothing. She wasn’t even looking at him. She was looking at the small black stone in her hand, seemingly transfixed. 

“Bulma?” He called out to her, confused by her behavior. 

“Huh?” She looked up, suddenly, as if she was deep in concentration and had forgotten he was there. “What’s up?”

“Cool stone there?” 

“What?” Her voice came out unexpected sharply and he was taken aback. 

“The thing you were looking at?” He was becoming increasingly uncomfortable in the cave and really couldn’t wait to get back out to the fresh air again. 

“It’s nothing special.” She shook her head, and then smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”  
He wasn’t about to argue with that. 

It wasn’t until they were back in the plane and he noticed that she seemed to be fiddling with something in her pocket that he realized that he never saw her put back the stone. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegeta returns from a training trip but Bulma is acting strangely.
> 
> Alternative description: Vegeta is needy and pouty and unaware of the premise of this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love domestic, post-DBS Vegeta. I am of the opinion that their relationship is much more functional than we see, so that is reflected. I also mention my headcanon that post-Buu saga, Bulma hired a (very well paid) couple's therapist. Because I find that idea amusing. A lot of my headcanons are just because I think it is amusing. But that is what headcanons are for!  
> Enjoy pouty Vegeta in a role reversal of a lot of early relationship Bulma/Vegeta fic. Don't worry, we are building up to the actual plot.

Vegeta’s stomach lurched slightly as Whis stopped moving. It was always an unsettling feeling to move so fast. The large dome of the Capsule Corp compound stood in front of them and Vegeta smiled. 

“Here you are, home at last.” Whis smiled his enigmatic smile. 

“Bulma better have some food for us.” Beerus grumbled. “I’m starving.”

Vegeta rolled his eyes, but followed them as they rushed into the building. He was always surprised by how happy he was to come back here. It really was home for him, as much as he tried to deny it at first. It was home and he missed it when he was away. 

His heart jumped as he thought of the people inside that house, waiting for him. His beautiful, brilliant wife. His strong, powerful son. And his tiny, wonderful daughter. He walked faster. 

Training with Whis and Kakarot was something that he needed to do. He needed to be stronger, always, to defend his family and home from whatever the next threat would be. But coming home was always a good feeling. Knowing that he would be eating dinner with his family and not sleeping alone was a very nice thought. Especially after dealing with Kakarot for a whole week straight. 

He had gotten soft and his past self would have been disgusted. But his past self could go fuck himself.  

Beerus and Whis were already in the kitchen and looking around for food. Vegeta was slightly surprised that Bulma wasn’t around. He knew she had work to do and he didn’t expect her to be waiting around for him or anything, but she knew he would be coming back today. The chefs had prepared food for them (a bunch of pastries for Beerus and Whis to fawn over) so she clearly hadn’t forgotten. 

“Dad!” Trunks burst into the kitchen, panic in his eyes. Vegeta immediately went on the defensive, looking around for whatever was threatening his son. But Trunks just babbled. “Finally, you’re back! Bulla won’t stop crying. Mom’s in her lab and won’t answer and I don’t know what to do!” 

Vegeta groaned. Training time was over and now it was time for parenting. This was what he was missing after all. 

Bulla’s crying was reverberating across the upper floor. The strength of her cries just showed that she was powerful, and he was proud of that, but the noise was still terrible. 

Her nursery was covered in soft fluffy furniture and pastel colors and he always felt a extremely out of place in it. It was part of the reason he had mostly avoided it back when it had been Trunks’ room all those years ago. But things were different now -- he was different now -- and he entered the soft room with confidence. 

His daughter lay in her crib, her face screwed up in rage as she cried, her tiny fists slamming uselessly against the mattress. This was the same crib they used for Trunks and it was specially made (by Bulma herself, of course) and reinforced against any super powered baby tantrums. 

“Shh shh.” Vegeta shushed her as he threw his gloves aside and picked her up, holding her away from his chest. He was still in his armor and it was pretty filthy. He didn’t want her to get sick from some God of Destruction planet germs. 

Bulla’s tears slowed to a sniffle and she looked up at her father. He smiled and bounced her lightly. She laughed.  

Behind him, Trunks sighed with relief. “Thank  _ god _ ! I thought she was never going to stop crying.” 

“Have you been watching her all day?” He asked, making an undignified face at Bulla, making her laugh again and reach out for his face. “Where’s the nanny? Or for that matter, your mother?”

“It’s Aupa’s day off today. And Mom’s barely come out of her lab for days now.”

Vegeta frowned. What was Bulma doing? They had an agreement, she watches the kids when he's training and he watches them while she's obsessively working. 

He sighed. “Trunks, watch Bulla for a little while longer. I'm going to have a chat with your mother.” 

 

A half an hour later, clean and changed into regular non-armor clothes, the baby put to sleep, he headed down to the industrial floors of the compound. 

“Mr. Vegeta!” a gangly, weak-jawed Capsule Corp employee said in surprise. They always looked terrified of him, as they should be. 

“Where's my wife?” he asked gruffly, glaring up at the tall, skinny man. He wasn’t angry at this weak human, but it was just so enjoyable to watch him squirm.

“Uh,y-yes sir. Dr. Bulma is in Lab C, working on a p-personal project.” The man was visibly sweating under Vegeta’s glare. Vegeta recognized him but had never bothered to learn his name. He was some assistant to one of Bulma’s assistants or something, and thus was beneath his notice. Vegeta pushed the man aside and headed to Lab C. 

The door to the lab was locked, which was very unusual, and he briefly considered just smashing through it, but he didn’t want to deal with her anger. 

“Bulma!” He shouted, banging on the door and startling a couple of research assistants that had the misfortune of being in earshot. “Bulma! Open the door!”

After a few moments, the door opened and Bulma stuck her head out. “Ring the buzzer, you ass!”

He felt his chest grow warm at the sight of her scowling face. Her hair was a mess, a sign that she had been running her hands through it in frustration. She wore no makeup and had something smeared across her face. She was gorgeous. “Great way to welcome your husband home,  _ dearest _ .” He smirked as he delivered the sarcastic endearment. He meant it, of course, but even after all these years he wasn’t at the point when he could call her genuine endearments without hiding behind sarcasm. At least not when other people might overhear. 

“I’ve been busy!” she stepped through the doorway and joined him in the hallway, closing the door behind him. Odd that she wasn’t making him come in so she could keep working while they talked. Lab C was her personal lab and they had spent many hours talking, and not talking, in that lab. 

“Too busy for our 4 month old daughter, apparently.” 

“Aupa was watching her!” 

“Aupa had the day off. I came home and Trunks was in a state of panic because he had been watching her, alone, for hours.” He frowned now. It wasn’t unusual for her to lose track of the days, but usually she made sure someone was watching the kids. This was why they had worked out the schedule that took into account both of their obsessions. 

“Oh fuck.” She hit her forehead with her palm. “And Mom and Dad left for vacation last week. I totally forgot.” She ran her hand through her short hair. 

“I put her down for a nap, don’t worry.” 

She smiled. “I’m still not totally used to this new domestic you. I like it though.” She looked away before speaking again, a strange hardness in her voice. “How was training?”

He grunted. He never knew how to answer that question. “It was . . . training. I think I made some strides.”

“Was . . . was Goku there?” Was he imagining it, or did she look more tense now than she was before. 

“Kakarot was there, annoying as ever.” He scowled. He would never admit it, but he preferred training with Kakarot to training by himself. It was more effective, even if the conversation was insufferable. 

Bulma hummed in agreement but she seemed distracted. One hand was in her lab coat pocket and she was fiddling with something. 

“What project was so engrossing that you neglect our children?” he teased. 

She pulled her hand away from him. “It's nothing important.” her voice was clipped, angry. “Now that you’re back, you can watch the kids.”

Without waiting for him to respond, she gave his arm a squeeze and disappeared back into her lab. The door beeped as it locked behind her. 

Vegeta stared at the door, confused. What had he done to make her so angry? Was she mad he had gone on a training trip? They had discussed it. She didn't want him gone right after Bulla was born (saving the universe being a necessary exception) but they had decided a short trip to Beerus's planet was fine, now that she was finally sleeping through the night. 

But apparently, she was mad at him. 

Even after all these years, Bulma was still a mystery to him. 

 

That night, after dinner and child wrangling, Vegeta watched her as she sat on the bed, typing furiously on her laptop. 

She had worked until dinner, and as soon as Bulla went to sleep, she pulled out the laptop and had barely even looked at him as she worked, her brows drawn together as she frowned at the screen. 

Getting engrossed in a project was not unusual for her, but this was a bit much. And she usually couldn't stop talking about her projects, telling him far more details than he ever wanted to know about the engineering details. But she hadn't said a single word about this project. 

He would never admit it out loud, but he was feeling a little neglected. He had been thinking about it all day and he still wasn't sure what he had done wrong. They had been on really good terms when he left for training, she had even encouraged him to go. Regardless, he should probably try to make it up to her. 

He sat down on the foot of the bed. “You seem tired. Let me give you a foot massage.” She was constantly complaining about her feet hurting at the end of the day and he had learned long ago that a foot massage was one of the easiest ways to get in her good graces. He reached for her foot. 

She pulled it away, tucking both feet underneath her. “I'm fine.” Her eyes never left the computer screen. 

He sighed. She was so stubborn. How was he supposed to get her to stop being mad when she refused to engage with him?

“How's the project going?” he asked, annoyed at how desperate for her attention he probably sounded. It was true, but he didn't like that he sounded it. She grunted, but said nothing. 

He stood up, trying to act casual, and positioned himself in her line of sight. Or where her line of sight would be if she looked up from the damn computer screen. Blushing slightly at the indignity, he pulled his shirt over his head and groaned unnecessarily loudly as he stretched his arms over his head. 

He glanced back and was disappointed to see that she was still typing away on her laptop. He frowned, embarrassment setting in deeper. That usually worked, no matter how focused she was. She would always start making appreciative sounds, salacious eyebrow raises, and commenting on his ‘rippling muscles’ and other things that made him blush. But she hadn’t even looked up at him. 

Okay, maybe just being direct was best. Their couple’s therapist was always telling him he needed to vocalize his needs more. He leaned over her. “Hey.” He tipped her face up towards him. “I want a kiss.”   
She rolled her eyes and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips. He tried to deepen it into a proper kiss but she pushed his face away. “I’m too busy for that.”

He was seriously getting annoyed with whatever this project was. Sitting on the bed next to her, he glanced at the screen. It was filled with incomprehensible code and various file names. One file name caught his eye in particular. 

“Am I to assume the folder ‘Mr. Grumpy biometrics’ refers to me?” 

She immediately angled the screen down, so he couldn’t see it. “It could refer to someone else.”

He raised an eyebrow. 

“Okay, yes, it is you. I'm working on some research on saiyan physiology. To help you train. Yeah! It was going to be a surprise!” She nodded emphatically. “I was just looking for a way to improve the training bots.”

“The training bots have been useless for years.” He scoffed. This was what she was capturing her attention so completely?

“I know, that's why I'm trying to improve them.” She spoke slowly, like she was speaking to Kakarot, or someone equally stupid. 

Annoyance bubbled up inside him. “Who cares about the stupid training bots? You can work on them tomorrow.” He put a hand on arm, hoping to still her frantic typing. He noticed a small, black rock balanced above the keyboard. 

She slapped his hand away, rage flashing in her eyes. “Don't tell me what to do.” She sighed, grabbing the strange rock and closing her laptop. He smiled, thinking she was finally done working for the night. But no, she stood up, facing away from him. “You're being too distracting. I'm going to work somewhere else.” She stepped into her fluffy slippers and left the room, not even looking at him. 

Vegeta stared at the closed door, annoyance turning to anger. What was her problem? She was acting ridiculous. She was acting like. . . well, him, earlier in their relationship. He shook his head and shoved that moment of self reflection aside. She was acting like a bitch. 

If she wanted to be a huge bitch, then he was just going to let her, since she obviously didn’t want him  _ distracting _ him. He didn’t need her attention! 

But as he struggled to fall asleep, he couldn’t deny how much he wanted it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bulma continues to be weird and Goku comes over for a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got a bit sidetracked by fluff... I am incapable of not writing fluff. There is a brief reference to breastfeeding in this chapter, but like, in a normal way. Just in case that squicks you out.

Trunks dodged the punch, lunging forward and jabbing his father in the stomach. Vegeta knocked his punch out of the way like it was nothing and sent him flying across the room. Trunks focused his ki and stopped before he got the wall, catching his breath. The increased gravity in the room made his limbs ache and sweat was pouring down his back. 

Vegeta shook his head. “Gravity set to 1 G.” he said and Trunks immediately felt the pressure lift and he sighed in relief. 

“You’re sloppy.” his father said, tossing a towel at him. “Do you even train at all when I'm not here?” 

“I run through forms every morning before school!” Trunks said, mostly truthfully. He had only done it twice during the week his father was gone. It was  _ hard _ to get up early enough when he wasn't being forced to.

Vegeta frowned and took a drink from his water bottle. “Where is your little friend? He's annoying but at least you get some sparring in when he's around.” 

“Goten's been busy studying. He’s gonna come over today though. I promise we’'ll spar.” It had been several weeks since he had seen his best friend and he was really looking forward to seeing him again. 

“Go get ready for breakfast.” He said and Trunks obeyed, hurring out of the chamber and back up to his room to shower and change. He heard the chamber power up again as Vegeta continued his morning training alone. 

His father had been in an exceptionally bad mood that morning, even worse than the previous night. This meant he either got shown up by Goten's father during his training trip, which didn't make sense given the delayed onset, or he was fighting with Bulma. 

Trunks had barely seen his mother for the past 4 days. Neither of his parents were exceptionally hands on, but her being so obsessed with her new mystery project was definitely unusual. And whenever his parents were fighting, his father made him train harder. 

He was just excited to spend the day with Goten, finally. Goten’s mom had been trying to get him into a good middle school so she was making him study all the time. If it worked Goten would likely be attending Trunk’s middle school, and it would be very cool to have his best friend there at school. 

Trunks was just finishing up breakfast when his father came in, still angry. He glanced around the table and, seeing Trunks was alone, his scowl deepened. 

“Where's your mother?” he asked, filling his plate with his own breakfast. 

“I haven't seen her yet.” He shrugged. 

“And your sister?”

“I don't know? I'm not the nanny.” He was still grumpy that watching the baby for an hour turned into the whole morning of babysitting. 

Vegeta put down his fork to glare at him. “Don't sass me.” 

Trunks rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” 

As if on cue, Bulma entered the kitchen. She didn't look at her husband or son and went quickly to the cupboard. 

“Mom!” Trunks exclaimed as she grabbed a granola bar. 

Vegeta glared at his toast. “I didn't expect to see you out of your lab.” He very pointedly did not look at her. 

Bulma leaned back, rolling her eyes as she tore into the granola bar. “I have to feed Bulla.” She looked tired, but she had an almost manic gleam in her eyes, which was a sure sign that she had been drinking too much coffee.

Vegeta looked up just enough to glare at the granola bar in her hand. “You better be eating more than just that.” 

“Don't worry, I already had my assistant bring me breakfast.” She looked them over. “If that's all, I have to go feed the baby so I can work without having sore boobs.” 

Trunks made a face. “Mom! Gross!” 

“Oh stop being a baby. It's perfectly natural.” Bulma turned to leave and Vegeta stood up. 

“Are you going back to work afterwards?” he asked, frowning. 

She didn't turn around. “That's the plan.” She reached into her pocket as she headed out of the room. 

“I've heard enough about how ‘busy’ you are!” Vegeta followed her. 

“Stop whining because I'm not paying attention to you! You re so immature!” 

“I'm the one thinking about our  _ children _ !” 

“Are you calling me a bad mother? That's  _ rich _ coming from you!” 

Their arguing continued up the stairs and faded into the distance. Trunks sighed as he pulled out his phone and opened the messaging app. 

**Help**

**When are you getting here?**

**Save me from my parents**

Goten surprised him by texting back promptly. His mom was super strict with cell phone usage and Goten was the worse at being sneaky so Chichi must be distracted. 

_ Are they being gross or fighting?  _

**Fighting**

**I'm not sure what about**

**I need you here as an excuse so my dad doesn't make me train all day**

Goten sent an emoji of a little running guy.

_ I'll save you from the horror of having to spend time with your dad _

**My hero**

**Now get over here so I can kick your ass**

  
  


Trunks was playing video games in the den, upside down on the couch when his phone buzzed again. He picked it up to read it and promptly dropped it on his face. As he righted himself, he got another text. 

_ I'm coming over right about… _

_ NOW _

There was a pop behind him and he heard Goten's distinctive giggle. 

“Finally! I was dying of boredom.” Trunks exclaimed, turning around and seeing his best friend and his best friend’s dad, both smiling widely. 

“My dad brought me because it's faster.” Goten said, beaming up at his dad. Any resentment Goten felt for Goku's frequent absences always dissipated when he spent time with him. 

“Yeah! I wanted to see if Vegeta wanted to spar too. Is your dad around, Trunks?” Goku bounced on his heels, looking around the room as if he expected Vegeta to be hiding around the corner. 

“I dunno. He was headed upstairs last I saw him.” Trunks shrugged as he passed a controller to Goten. His parents yelling had stopped a while back, which meant they were either in their bedroom (ew) or they were both pouting.  

“Kakarot.” Vegeta stood in the doorway, probably summoned by Goku’s power level. He was carrying Bulla, who had a chunk of his hair pulled down and clamped in her small fist. 

“Hey Vegeta! Wanna spar?” Goku grinned and he leaned back into a stance as if he expected the fight to start right then, inside, while Vegeta held a baby. 

“You know Bulma doesn’t want us sparing close to the house.” Vegeta tried to extract his hair from Bulla’s grasp as he spoke. She cooed and tightened her grip. He sighed in defeat. 

“Come on! We can just do a little spar. Just enough to get our heart rates up.” Goku pleaded. 

Vegeta shrugged. “Fuck it, I’m in a bad mood today and I want to punch you.”

He tried again to extract Bulla’s tiny hands from his hair and she yelled, yanking hard enough to make him wince. His head at an awkward angle to reduce the amount of pulling, he shifted Bulla to one hand and groped at one of the baskets of toys that were scattered around the house. He grabbed one blindly, a rattle with some loops and movable parts, and shook it in front of her. “Look Bulla! Now let go of Papa’s hair and play with this.” 

Bulla grabbed the toy with her free hand and shook it. It made a rattling and jingling sound and she seemed to decide that was more fun than causing her father discomfort and finally let go of her prized lock to grip the toy in both hands. Vegeta shifted her in his arms and reached up to be sure his hair went back into place correctly. 

Goku chuckled and Vegeta turned his attention back to his rival with a glare. “What?”

“You’re adorable.” He said, grinning.

“You fucking take that back!” Vegeta’s menacing expression was undermined by the rattle being shaken enthusiastically in front of his face. 

“If you manage to get a hit on me in our spar, I’ll take it back.” Goku teased. 

“Deal. I’m going to smash your face in.” Vegeta looked over at Trunks, who was enjoying his victory over Goten in brightly colored video game go-kart racing. “Trunks! Take Bulla. I have business to attend to in the backyard.”

Trunks groaned and rolled his eyes but he took his baby sister, obnoxious rattle and all. “What’s the point of even hiring a nanny if she never actually does any nannying?” 

“Don't talk back.”

Trunks exchanged an exasperated look with Goten as their fathers rushed out the nearest balcony opening out to the compound grounds. Bulla giggled as she shook her toy. 

“Wanna go watch?” Goten asked.

“Sounds like more fun than beating you yet again.” Watching their fathers, two of the most powerful mortal beings in the universe, fight was always fascinating. 

Goku and Vegeta were already stretching, trading petty and maliceless insults, when they got out. Trunks perched himself on a low garden wall with Bulla on his lap, watching their father intently. 

“Watching our dads fight is fun, isn't It Bulla?” Goten asked the baby girl in an overly cutest tone. 

She smiled and shook the rattle before bring it to her mouth and mouthing at it. 

“Base form only.” Vegeta said, falling back into a fighting pose. “No powering up and no ki attacks.” 

“Deal. First to land a hit wins.” Goku grinned and the two alien men looked at each other for a moment before both launching towards each other simultaneously. 

The three kids watched enraptured as their fathers traded blows. Even without any of their power ups, the power in their movements was unmistakable. Punches and kicks and blocks flew between them faster than humanly observable. Luckily, none of the observers were entirely human. 

Vegeta’s fist flew towards Goku’s stomach when suddenly they found themselves thrown apart. Their faces twisted in shock as an unseen force drove them apart and slammed Vegeta into the ground next to Trunks’s grandma’s rose bushes, while Goku hit a set of patio furniture, sending it flying. 

Goten gasped, looking ready to run to his father. Trunks looked wildly around for the source of the force. Something must be attacking! He held his baby sister protectively, thinking rapidly of a way to get her to safety. 

But he didn’t see or sense any threat. All he saw was. . . his mother?

Bulma stood by the door to house, still dressed in her lab coat, holding up a strange device with a wild look in her eyes. “You!” she yelled, hoarsely. 

Trunks expected her to be directing her ire towards Vegeta. Afterall, it was Vegeta who lived here and knew that sparring with Goku on the property was strictly not allowed. But she was looking towards the patio, where Goku was struggling to stand against some mysterious force. 

“Hey Bulma! What happened? Did you do that?” Goku asked, smiling as he determined that he couldn’t stand beyond a crouch. 

“How  _ dare _ you come here! You fucking asshole!” Bulma yelled at Goku, brandishing her force field deployment device.

“I was just doing some sparring with Vegeta.” Goku shrugged, still grinning. 

On the other side of the yard, Vegeta pushed against the force field. “Bulma! What the fuck is this?”

Bulma ignored her husband. “You only ever think about fighting. I won’t have my peace disrupted by your idiotic, irresponsible nonsense. Not again.”

Goku frowned. “Sorry, Bulma. Next time we’ll instant transmission somewhere else.” 

“There won’t be a next time.” She warned ominously. “I was going to wait until everything was ready but, well, here you are.” She threw her arms out, gesturing to Goku. “And I am not about to pass up the opportunity.”

“Mom?” Trunks walked hesistantly towards his mother, Bulla fussing in his arms. “Are you okay?”

Bulma smiled at the sight of her children. “I’m fine. I just have to take care of this scum. You should take Bulla inside.”

“Bulma, let me reiterate,  _ what the fuck _ ?” Vegeta yelled from across the yard. 

She laughed. “I’ve finally come around to your way of thinking, honey.” She turned back toward him, her eyes wild. “I’m going to destroy Goku.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bulma makes a move. And some mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am . . . not good at writing action.

“Bulma, what are you talking about?” Vegeta yelled from somewhere behind her. Bulma ignored him. She would deal with him later. He was a problem but he was . . . contained. Even when he was actively trying to destroy the planet, he was never as big of a threat as Goku was.  

Goku, the monster himself, frowned at her. “Bulma? What’s going on. Can you let me out of here?”

“No.” She reached into her lab coat pocket, quickly grabbing the capsule she was looking for. Her fingers brushed against the stone and it’s warmth gave her strength. The feeling of it, the power, pushed away the doubts that had crept into her mind at the sight of her distressed children. She pulled the capsule out and opened it, a large gun appearing out of the smoke. 

“What’s that?” Goku asked as he pushed against the edges of the force field. Bulma noticed, with the help of the contact lens scouter she wore, the flood of ki washing over him as he tried to test the limits of his cage. Bulma smiled, watching as the force field absorbed his ki and strengthened. 

“I wouldn’t struggle like that.” She warned, gesturing with her gun. “The more ki you use against it, the stronger it gets, and the weaker you get. You remember Dr. Gero’s ki absorption technology? From those other androids? I have improved it immensely over the years, of course.”

“Ki absorption? What nonsense is this?” Vegeta was still yelling behind her. She could hear the sound of him powering up, and knew he was taking it all the way to the top of his power. Perfect. 

“While my idiot husband fruitlessly uses up all his power, I should get on with what I came out here to do.” She held up the gun and aimed it at Goku. 

“Bulma, you know guns can’t hurt me. Why are you doing this?” Goku looked genuinely upset. Good. He will get a taste of how he made her feel so often before he died. 

“Normal guns can’t hurt you, sure. But those guns weren’t made by me, with the specific intention of killing you.” She grinned. 

“Why? Mom?” She turned and saw Trunks, looking like he was about to cry. Her determination softened slightly at the sight of her children. They shouldn’t see this.

“Trunks, I told you to take your sister inside.” She didn’t stop pointing the gun at Goku, who looked dejected. 

“I’m not going to just go inside and let you attack Goten’s dad! Mom! Why are you doing this?” Trunks was frantic, clutching his sister more for his own comfort than hers. 

“You wouldn’t understand. Goku’s recklessness makes him dangerous to everyone. And most importantly, he is a  _ bad friend _ .” She spit out the last bit like it disgusted her. 

“A bad friend? Really? Is that what this is all about?” Vegeta yelled, incredulously. 

“Bulma, whatever I did, I’m sorry.” Goku looked genuinely upset. 

“Oh, lets just get started about what you’ve done. You’ve never valued me. Ever since you met more people who you could fight, you just started to slowly pay less and less attention to me because I don’t punch things. I was your  _ first friend _ . When was the last time we actually talked, had a real conversation? It was probably 10 years ago. When you come over it’s always to see  _ him. _ ” She gestured vaguely in Vegeta’s direction. “Never me. It’s like I am just ‘Vegeta’s wife’ or ‘Trunks’ mom’ to you. Me!” Her rage was building as she yelled.

“Bulma, I’m sorry. Put down the gun and we can talk.” Goku held up his hands gently. 

“Oh, no. It’s  _ far _ too late for that. I’m going to kill you and then I am going to make sure no one ignores me again.” She lifted the gun and aimed it directly at Goku’s face. 

She fired. 

Something hit her in the side and it was like being hit with a truck. Everything erupted in pain as the force lifted her, making losing her grip on both the gun and the force field controller.

The others watched in horror as Bulma went down, her anti-gravity force field cushioning her from the full brunt of the attack.

Goku yelled as the misdirected blast hit his arm, burning through the skin and muscle like it was nothing. 

“I’m so so sorry Auntie Bulma!” Goten said, horrified at his own actions.

“Bulma!” Vegeta shouted from behind the force field, struggling against his bounds. “Bulma! Are you okay?”

“Goten! What the hell! That’s my mom!” Trunks turned on his best friend. Bulla was sobbing now and Trunks set her down on the ground so he could run over to the action. 

“She was going to shoot my dad!” Goten started crying, guilt and fear overwhelming him. 

“Trucks, see if your mother’s okay!” Vegeta was getting increasingly desperate as he struggled against the dome. 

“Goten. Get the controller. Let us out.” Goku grunted out instructions as he held his arm.  

“Yes dad!” Goten scrambled over to where the strange device had fallen. 

“Mom! Mom, are you okay?” Trunks rushed over to his mother. 

Bulma raise her head with rage in her eyes. “You ungrateful little brat!” She growled at Goten, who looked up, terrified, as he grabbed the device. Trunks wanted to help her up. She was his mother. But he was frozen in place. 

Goten stared at the device, unsure of what to do, trying to block out all the shouting and crying. He was crying too hard to see what the buttons said so he started just pressing buttons at random. 

Vegeta and Goku yelled in pain as they were hit by electricity from the force fields.

Bulma laughed. “You don’t want to hurt them more. Give me the controller, Goten.”

Goten shook his head, pressing more buttons. 

There!

The force fields dissipated and Goku and Vegeta both fell forward into the grass. Goten rushed to his father. 

Bulma screamed in rage and she grabbed another capsule out of her pocket. Before she could open it, however, arms held her back. 

“Bulma, what the fuck is wrong with you.” Vegeta asked as he held her arms in place behind her. Damn, she forgot how fast he was. 

“It’s none of your business!” She snarled struggling against his vice-like grip. 

“Like hell it isn’t.” He said, pulling her into an embrace. “There’s something wrong with you and that is the definition of my business. That was the whole marriage thing, wasn’t it?”

Somewhere deep inside her she wanted to listen to him, fold into his embrace, and tell him he was being sweet. But that was suppressed deep under layers of cold fury. 

Goten helped Goku up. His arm was a mess of burned flesh and the boy was crying as he flew off with this father. She couldn’t let him get away. 

“Get off of me.” Struggling against Vegeta would be useless. She would have to get creative. 

“No.” He was so stubborn. He should be working  _ with  _ her. But no, she loved him but she had to do this alone. 

Sighing, she used her trapped hand to twist her wedding ring, activating her personal protective force field. As Vegeta loosened his grip in surprise at the sudden energy surge, she clicked the capsule in her other hand and threw it backwards. The force of the expanding plane caught him by surprise and he let her go. She jumped, pushing off of the plane and while her landing was not graceful, it was steady. 

She had to get back to her lab. There were still a few adjustments to make before she was ready. It was a mistake to act this early, that much was clear. She had just been so enraged by Goku’s presence that she acted rashly. She won’t be doing that again. 

The sound of crying caught her attention. 

Bulla. 

She knew she had to run to the lab before Vegeta and Trunks stopped her. But the sight of her baby sobbing on the ground was difficult for her to stomach. Maternal instinct winning out, she scooped up her infant daughter. 

“Bulma, stop.” Vegeta called out to her, tossing the plane out of the way. 

She looked back at her husband and son. The distress and confusion on her face made her heart hurt and she took a small step towards them.

The stone in her pocket felt hot. 

She turned away, running back to her lab. They didn’t make a move to stop her that time. 


End file.
